add link: Julianne Hough is building quite the film résumé. In the big-screen adaptation of Broadway musical "Rock of Ages", the triple threat sings and dances alongside Tom Cruise. But for her next role, she'll get to show off a serious side as a religious woman who begins to question everything she believes in.

"I'm actually in pre-production right now and I go to New Orleans in about three weeks and start shooting," Hough told MTV News of the upcoming Diablo Cody film. "It's really cool. It's very different than anything I've done and anything that people [have] seen me do."

As the leading lady in Cody's still-untitled project (originally called "Lamb of God"), Hough's character suffers a crisis of faith after surviving a tragic accident. She begins to live a life of sin in, well, Sin City, before finding God again. Hough revealed a bit more about the kind of pain and strife she'll have to act out in the film.

"It's strictly acting — no singing or dancing," she said. "In fact, I'm way more restricted in physicality because I actually play a girl that's been burned over two-thirds of her body, so I don't have a lot of movement, which is very different for me. So I'm excited. [It's] a big challenge and I like that. I have all the expression from my physicality trapped up [and it's] going to really help my emotion, I think."

Another thing that may ease her acting challenges is reuniting with "Rock of Ages" co-star Russell Brand in Cody's flick. "I'm super excited because in 'Rock of Ages' ... we had scenes together, but we never actually spoke to each other in the scenes," she explained. "So it'll be a whole new thing."